Time Heals All Wounds
by mandrake-o
Summary: Future-fic. An ambiguous number of years have passed since Jess and Rory last met. Mostly about Jess and the random situations I throw him into.
1. Singles' Night At Ally's

Time Heals All Wounds

Disclaimer: This is _fanfiction_. Define that yourself.

Author's Note: This is my first foray into the world of Gilmore Girls fanfiction so I'm hoping this isn't a total failure. This fic was inspired by the concept of 'cereal dating'. That is, where one, during a grocery shopping trip on a given night, places a box of cereal upside down in the basket of a shopping trolley (or cart, if you prefer) and proceeds to meet up with various other singles who have done the same thing.Oh, and I refuse to Americanise my spelling just because the series is American. That is all.

_

Chapter 1:  
Singles' Night At Ally's 

_

When one stumbled across Ally's, one quickly discovered that Ally's façade was in complete opposition to its interior. Beginning with the name, Ally's. There was no "Ally" who was the founder of the place. Ally's wasn't a bar, or a restaurant, like the name seemed to imply. When one stood on the street and looked in through either of the entrances, it wasn't immediately apparent that it was a bookshop/café. It looked a whole lot more like a garden centre.

But what was most confusing about Ally's was its Singles' Night. Friday nights from six 'til twelve. A shift that Jess Mariano had managed to avoid for years… until today.

Jess Mariano, a manager at Ally's, was a bit like the place himself. At first glance, he appeared to be the type of person who would mug you on some dark secluded street. The kind of man who would be found lurking in bars until closing, with far more alcohol in his system than healthy. On closer inspection, you'd realise that he was wearing quite an expensive white shirt beneath the worn leather jacket, and if he turned, you'd notice a well-read paperback lurking in his back pocket.

The night started out alright. Jess' shift began upstairs in the café. He and a couple of teenage boys were out front with their lone customer. It gave Jess the perfect opportunity to continue reading his novel. It was a new one, _Loss of Patience_ by Abigail Walters. Reading it was just one of the perks of working in the bookshop. Generally, new additions to the store meant new reviews to be written by the staff. This meant that the staff were allowed to borrow copies of the books and read them, provided they were returned in perfect condition. Of course, Jess' lifelong habit of back pocket novel abuse lead to him having never managed to return a single book. It became a sort of running joke within the confines of the Ally's staff room.

As the ranking officer in the room, Jess had little to do other than supervise the gradually increasing number of staff serve the customers. When he felt enough time had passed, he began making the rounds of the newly acquainted singles. He made small talk with the budding couples, noting those which weren't working. He even took the occasional order. Maybe this wasn't going to be so bad.

No one, not even Jess himself, knew why he had been avoiding the inevitable Friday night shift. It wasn't as though he actually did work the second job he'd always claimed to. It wasn't as though he did something else more important on Friday nights. In fact, he usually spent them at home, alone, relaxing with a book after a long working week. Sometimes he guessed that he was afraid of the large number of desperate and dateless who would be surrounding him. But he'd grown up in New York surrounded by people. It wasn't that he wasn't open to the idea of the singles' night. It brought in quite a lot of profit, as everyone participating had to buy a book, rather than the regular days when hundreds of people browsed, and not many bought. The thought of being here just irked him. Like there was something that might happen that he should be avoiding.

He shrugged it off, ignoring it as he returned to the kitchen with his orders. Seeing everything going well, he headed downstairs to the bookstore to see if there were any problems.

* * *

She wasn't entirely sure how she ended up here at Ally's. It was her first visit to New York in a while and she'd been intending to go sightseeing with her friends who lived here. But suddenly Lane and Paris both had dates leaving Rory alone with nothing to do. When they spoke to her about how sorry they were, Rory insisted that they go, and that she only needed a good book and she'd be fine. But she managed to miss the conspiratorial smiles her friends shared when they pointed her in the direction of Ally's, a bookstore gradually becoming a New York landmark. 

Rory was surprised when she arrived. The place was full of people browsing the shelves. All of them were wearing pink or blue plastic bracelets, like the kind you got for concerts. A teenager standing at the door looked at her.

"Pink or blue?" she asked.

"What?"

The teenager held up a box of bracelets.

"Oh," Rory replied. "Blue, I guess." She'd never been the kind of girl who wore pink.

The girl nodded and handed her a bracelet. "Enjoy your night."

"Er, thanks," she said, curiously. She wrapped the bracelet around her wrist and observed the place.

It wasn't really a cosy bookstore, there were far too many people in here, and the lights were too bright. It bordered on sterile, as though this were one of a major chain of bookstores. But from what she'd heard, this wasn't the case at all. She wandered aimlessly, attempting to find a corner of the store that wasn't filled with people.

She found what she was looking for in the non-fiction section. Unfortunately, she didn't actually want to read a non-fiction book. As she skimmed the titles uninterestedly, another woman about her age appeared beside her. Rory noticed that the other woman was also wearing a blue bracelet.

"Did you get dragged in here, too?" the other woman asked.

"No, actually," Rory asked. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, you're here, all alone, in the one place in this store where a guy wouldn't want to find a girl."

"What?" Rory was definitely confused.

"It is customary for people who are willing to attend singles' nights to scout out the room and pick up a date," the woman nodded.

Suddenly Rory looked up and spotted a sign that read "Friday Night is Singles' Night at Ally's".

"You mean you didn't know?" the woman asked.

Rory sighed. "I can't believe I walked in here without noticing. And I'm wearing a blue bracelet which has been confusing me all night. What does it mean?"

The woman laughed. "It means you're on the lookout for a man."

"Thank goodness that's all it meant," Rory smiled. "And thank goodness I picked up a blue one."

"I'm Elise," the woman said, holding out a hand.

"Rory," she said, taking her hand and shaking it. She sighed. "I can't believe I didn't know. And I guess I _was_ roped into this, without knowing. And the girl at the door, shouldn't she have said _something_? Anything, really. Like explaining what the colours of the bracelets meant?"

"Maybe you should talk to the manager about it," Elise suggested.

"I would," Rory sighed. "But I'd be too embarrassed to tell the manager something like that."

"Something like what?" A male voice interrupted the conversation.

Rory turned to look at the man. "I'm not about to tell you." He was a man about her age, of average height. A bit on the scrawny side with dark hair and eyes. He looked vaguely familiar, but Rory just put it down to her ability to mesh all faces together until they became one.

"Well," he continued. "I'm the manager here, and if you have something to tell me about the efficiency of our staff, you'd have to consider it your civic duty, wouldn't you?"

Rory didn't answer because she was noticing the man's nametag. "Jess?"

He looked at her. "Yes?"

"You mean you don't remember me?" She looked at him.

"Rory?" He grinned when she nodded. "Rory Gilmore. I haven't seen you in years."

She let out a breath as he embraced her. She patted him on the back, looked over her shoulder and realised they'd ignored Elise. "Oh," she said, drawing back. "Jess, this is Elise. Elise, Jess."

"Pleased to meet you," Jess said, extending a hand.

"Likewise," she returned, taking his hand. "Well, I think I'll have a look around. Leave you two to catch up."

Rory nodded. "Bye Elise. And thanks for not letting me wander around here completely hopelessly."

"So, you two are here together?" Jess asked, as Elise ambled toward the less-filled fiction shelves.

"Oh no," Rory replied. "We just met. Paris and Lane ditched me on my first night here."

"You guys are still friends, then."

"Yeah," she said. "Though I'm reconsidering that after tonight."

"I didn't think this was really your thing."

"It's not," Rory agreed. "I didn't even know that tonight was singles' night 'til Elise-" realising she'd said too much, she slapped a hand to her mouth and stared at Jess.

He couldn't stop himself from smirking. "I think I just found out what you were too embarrassed to tell the manager."

Rory slapped him on the arm. "Don't you dare."

"Since I already know that you stumbled in here unknowingly, mind telling me what the rest of the complaint would be?"

She glared at him, then sighed as he managed to control his smirk. "Well the girl at the door just asked me if I wanted a blue or a pink bracelet. She didn't explain them or anything. What if I just preferred the colour pink to blue? I could have been hit on by girls all night. I don't think I've ever been hit on by a girl before."

"That's certainly something to bring up at the next staff meeting."

She frowned. "You're not taking me seriously. And why is it that this system is in place so that more men are wandering around with pink bracelets than blue ones? You'd think they'd take it as an insult to their masculinity."

"We like not to reinforce stereotypes here at Ally's." Jess took her hand. "Let me get you a coffee."

"I don't want a coffee," she said, petulantly.

"What?" Jess queried, exaggerating his shocked expression. "If there's only one thing I remember about you it's that a Gilmore would never refuse a coffee. You're not pregnant are you?" he teased.

"A Gilmore is perfectly well equipped to resist the temptation of the elixir of life. Given the correct circumstances, of course. I hear immortality's not all it's cracked up to be. And of course I'm not pregnant. Do I look pregnant to you?"

"Well," he said. "You do seem to have a bit of a glow."

"The glow of frustration."

"I think your stomach may be protruding slightly."

"The way to a woman's heart is not through insulting her stomach," Rory said, self-consciously covering her stomach with her arm.

"Now, now. None of that," he said, taking her arm. "You look as gorgeous as the day I first met you. Now come on," he began leading her toward the staircase. "It's the least I can do after my staff so rudely chose not to enlighten you about tonight's proceedings. If it makes you feel better, this is the first time I've been to one of these."

"But you're a manager, aren't you? That generally requires multiple shifts and years of working in a place. Unless of course you've just printed yourself out a phony badge and you've actually been in cahoots with Lane and Paris with the ultimate goal to get me a free cup of coffee."

"Babble much, Gilmore?" he asked, as they reached the top of the staircase. "I've never thought that Singles' Night was the highlight of working in this place." He paused and choked back his laughter. "You said 'cahoots'."

Rory merely glowered at him.

They walked over to the counter. "Sorry milady," Jess said, pretending to tip his non-existent cap. "There are no tables vacant." He pulled a plain black stool from behind the counter and polished it a little with a tea towel. "I hope the seating meets your high expectations."

Rory was a little overwhelmed. She'd arrived in New York that morning intending to spend the night with Paris and Lane, reminiscing about old times. Then they'd both had dates, so she thought she'd spend a quiet night in Lane's flat, reading a book. Now, she discovered that Lane and Paris had a plan to get her to a singles' night in a bookstore (which she had to admit was quite an imaginative idea) and was being waited on by Jess Mariano, her almost forgotten high school boyfriend. He was being perfectly amiable, something she didn't remember him being capable of, and seemed to have completely forgotten the less than amicable way they'd parted. He was, this very moment, standing in front of her with an apron tied around his waist and a notepad and pen at the ready.

"What would you like?"

She looked at him, and was vaguely reminded of the same man in a similar situation so many years ago. "Pancakes with maple syrup, bacon and scrambled eggs, two slices of toast and an extra large coffee."

He smiled at her. "So now Rory wants to come out and play. Sadly, this isn't Luke's and we don't serve our breakfast menu all day. Bear in mind that this is a café and I'm not going to recite you the menu since I'm sure you have a pretty good idea of what it is already." Regardless of what he said, be pulled a laminated menu from a holder beside him and held it out to her.

She didn't take it. "Just give me a big slice of that chocolate cake over there, and the biggest cup of your house blend."

"Will do," he saluted and turned to leave. At that point Rory noticed the paperback in his back pocket and snagged it. He didn't notice and Rory examined it. It was a new book, from an author she hadn't heard of before. She had just finished reading the first page when he returned with her cake and coffee. "You've turned into quite the Artful Dodger yourself."

She looked up at him, then back to the book. "I guess so. I can't believe you still remember that."

"It's funny," he said. "I hadn't thought about you in ages. Every now and then I'll notice a book, and it'll remind me of you, but that's about it. Then suddenly you're here, and it's as though no time has passed, and I can still remember clearly every single word you ever said to me."

"Well, I'm sorry for all the bad things I said that I never apologised for."

"Don't be," Jess said. "There's really no need for apologies. That's water under the bridge. I wouldn't be who I am if people hadn't said what they said to me. And I'm quite content being me."

"This is nice. Isn't it, Jess?" Rory said, chewing a forkful of cake.

"The cake? Well, I certainly didn't make it."

"Not the cake," Rory shook her head. "Seeing each other again. Being friendly."

"Yeah," he smiled.

Suddenly, there was a loud crash from the kitchen. Several different voices were yelling indistinctly.

"I'd better go," Jess said. "Apparently I'm supposed to be in charge here. And without my help, they seem to be getting into a lot of trouble."

"Better re-think your staff," she said.

He hugged her gently, and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Don't be a stranger now, Ror."

She only smiled and went back to eating her cake and coffee.

* * *

When Jess returned from the mess in the kitchen, he found there was no trace of Rory left. The stool was back in its place and her dishes had been cleared away. Not even a crumb on the floor gave any indication of the girl from his past's previous presence. He sighed and sat on the stool, reminiscing. 

Maybe a Friday night shift at Ally's wasn't so bad after all. If only she hadn't taken his book.

* * *

A/N: Well, that's that. If this does become a full story (and I'm not known to finish what I start), it's not likely to be a romance. 


	2. A not so crummy day

****

Time Heals All Wounds

Disclaimer: This is _fanfiction_. Define that yourself.

Author's Note: I guess Jess could be seen as a little OOC, but hey, some ambiguous number of years has passed since he and Rory last saw each other. And a lot can happen. 

As for there being no awkwardness in the meeting, I'm sort of thinking that it's been so long that any bad or strange feelings they've had for each other in the past have just dissipated, and it's just like meeting an old friend you haven't seen in a long time. I mean they still remember that at the time they felt pretty bad, but now, it doesn't really matter because they've actually moved on.

__

Chapter 2:  
A not so crummy day

It was a Monday afternoon. Jess had just finished a shift at Ally's and Rory hadn't come to return his book. It was irritating, really. She hadn't given him any way to contact her, so it was up to her to do the returning. Not to mention he was only halfway through the novel, and at a very suspenseful point. 

He hadn't had the best of days, either. He'd opened. And most of his morning had been spent dealing with one particularly rude and crabby customer who was complaining about some book that they didn't have in the store that hadn't even been released yet. Some people had such unrealistic expectations. 

All in all, Jess was very much looking forward to doing absolutely nothing tonight. He was looking forward to not having to deal with any people at all. Not even his friends. If they for some reason wanted to do something with him on a Monday night, they were going to get rejected, harshly. 

Jess had been sitting in front of the television for nearly an hour watching some mindless cartoon intended for viewing by under tens. He didn't want to deal with the aggravations of people, so watching coloured blobs seemed like the way to go. The couch he was sitting on, the television and a barely filled bookcase were the only furniture in the room. His old apartment building had recently burned down and he discovered that he didn't have enough insurance to completely cover the replacement of all his stuff. It was one of the reasons why he'd taken that extra shift on Friday. 

The doorbell rang. Jess ignored it. Whoever it was could go away for all he cared. Then the person knocked on the door. 

"Please?" he heard from the hallway. It was a woman's voice, and she did sound rather desperate. But he didn't know who she was, so why was it any of his business? "I really need your help." 

Jess sighed and turned off the television. Sure he didn't like to deal with people, but at least she'd go away if he heard her out... or yelled at her. He could use some yelling. He opened the door and a woman about his age, or a little older, stood there with a small girl on her hip and a boy by her feet. 

"I'm really sorry to bother you," she said. "And I'm sure you have much better things to do with your time, but I've just moved in here and I don't know anyone." 

Jess looked at her impassively, waiting for her to finish explaining what she absolutely needed him to do before he could go back to his rainbow blobs. 

"You're my last hope. I've been through the entire building and no one will even open up. I'm Carolyn. And this is Teri, and Bobby." 

"Robert," the boy muttered darkly. He had dark curly hair and reminded Jess a little of himself. 

"Yes dear," his mother dismissed him. "I'm sorry to have to ask this of you, but would you mind looking after them for a couple of hours. I'm a nurse at St Vincent's, and I have a shift that starts in about ten minutes. The babysitter fell through and I can't leave them home alone." 

Jess agreed. She couldn't leave her kids home alone. He'd been left home alone by his mother more times than he could count. That's how he'd gotten into reading, really. Sometimes there was no money for the TV, and a book could be read and reread while waiting for his mother to return from wherever she'd gone too. Unlike him, though, these kids' mother was actually working to get them a better life. His mother was too busy living her own life to worry about him. 

"I'd pay you," she said. "Ten dollars an hour and I promise I'll be back before seven so you don't even have to feed them. They're good kids. They'll listen to you, I've never had complaints about them from our previous babysitters." 

"You can't leave them alone," Jess voiced his opinion. "But you can't leave them with me. What if I were a paedophile?" 

"I know you're not," she said. "Otherwise you would have gladly taken them off my hands." 

"You don't even know my name or anything about me. What if I had a history of drug and alcohol abuse?" 

"You look pretty well put together to me. And if you tell me your name, that's not a problem." 

"Jess Mariano," he said and looked at the kids. Carolyn had put down Teri at some point, and she and her brother were sitting in the corridor quietly conversing. 

"Please," she pleaded. 

And Jess wasn't quite sure why he did it, but nodded silently and opened the door for them. 

"Thank you, so much," she said. "You don't know how much this means to me." She led her children in and Jess listened as she gave her children last minute rules. "You listen to everything Mr. Mariano says. And don't worry. I'll be back before dinner and then you can come home. I love you." She kissed her children then turned to Jess. "I think that's it." 

Jess sighed. "How am I supposed to contact you if something happens?" 

"Oh right," she breathlessly pulled a slip of paper from her pocket. "The instructions for the babysitter." He took it. "Thanks again." And then she was gone. 

Jess shut the door after her and locked it. He looked at the kids who were sitting on the floor. They seemed to be a little afraid of him. "Do you want to sit on the couch and watch some TV?" 

"But daddy never let us watch TV after school, Mr. Merino," the boy said. "Not until we've finished our homework." 

"It's Mariano, not Merino," Jess said. "And I'm sure your daddy won't mind just this one time. There's not much else for you and your sister to do." 

The little girl quivered and began to cry quietly. The boy comforted her. 

"What's wrong?" Jess asked. 

"Our dad's gone," the boy said. "He's never going to tell us what to do ever again." 

Jess knew there was a reason why he didn't want to agree to this babysitting job. "You two go and sit on the couch, and I'll see what your mum's written on this list." They followed his instructions. "It says you've got to do your homework first, then you can have a snack or watch TV or whatever. Did you bring your homework?" 

The boy nodded and went over to his backpack which he'd left by the door. 

"Do you mind doing it on the floor?" Jess asked. "I've only got one chair for the table." 

"I've never done that before," the boy said. 

Jess really needed more furniture. Jess took the boy's bag and set it on the floor in front of the little girl who was still sitting on the couch. "Have you got your sister's homework as well?" 

"She doesn't get homework," he said. "She's too little." 

Jess nodded, then knelt by the girl. "I have some paper and pens. Do you want to draw?" The girl shook her head. "Well, we can't turn on the TV while your brother's working, that wouldn't be fair. He looked over to the bookshelf. "Do you want to read a book?" 

"She can't read," the boy said from his position on the floor. He was working on some sort of sheet. 

"Do you want me to read something to you?" She smiled. Jess took her hand and lead her over to the bookshelf. His collection of books was almost the first thing he replaced after the fire. But it still wasn't as large as it used to be and consequently didn't hold much in the way of children's books. "I don't think there's anything here I can read to you, Teri," he said. He thought about taking the kids to the library. The boy could do his homework there, and he could read Teri a book. 

"Oh no," the boy said. Jess turned, startled. The boy ran up to him with a terrified expression on his face. "Mariano, Mariano. I have a book report due tomorrow and I left my book at home." 

"Then I think it's a good idea that I was just about to suggest a trip to the library. You can get your book there and we can find something for Teri to read." 

"You don't understand," Robert was distraught. "I already started my book report and it took me hours. I need to finish it." 

Jess didn't have a key to their apartment. "You wouldn't happen to have a key in that bag, would you Rob?" 

"It's Robert," he whined. 

"Well then Robert, you should call me Jess." 

"Jess?" Robert laughed. "But that's a girl's name." 

"Rob it is," Jess replied. "Do you have a key or not?" 

"I don't." 

Jess sighed. His long day was only going to get longer. "You've written your book report once, couldn't you start over? It wouldn't take as long this time." 

"No," Rob stamped his foot. "I need the one I started." 

"I could help you. What book is it?" 

Unluckily it was a book Jess hadn't read as it was quite new. 

"Can't you wait until your mum gets home and do it tonight?" 

"We always go straight to bed after dinner." 

Jess guessed that asking him to stay up late would be a problem. "I'm going to call your mum." 

He took out the slip of paper and went over to the phone. Carolyn was unavailable at the moment, but they'd try to get her a message. 

"I can't get hold of your mum. You're going to have to wait. It's not fair to ask your mum to come home early because you left you book report at home." 

"Mariano!" Rob was on the verge of tears. Seeing her brother like that set Teri off. 

Jess picked up the little girl and began to rock her. "I'm not going to help you if you aren't going to be polite." Jess stated. 

"Mariano, will you please help me get my book report?" 

Jess nodded. "Okay, let's go. We have to go see the super." 

They left everything in the apartment and Jess locked up. They then rode the elevator down to the ground floor and explained the situation to the super. He understood and came upstairs with the keys. But when they got to the door, the super noticed that Carolyn had had a new lock installed that she hadn't yet given him a key to. 

"Sorry Mr. Mariano," he apologised. 

"It's not your fault." 

"I need my book report," Rob complained. 

"Can we get in through the fire escape?" Jess asked. 

"Only if they've left a window open." 

"Okay kids, it looks like we're going outside," Jess said and turned to the super. "Thanks for your help." 

They headed for the nearest door and were just about to climb out when Teri pulled on Jess' sleeve. 

"I need to use the bathroom," Teri exclaimed. 

"Can't it wait a minute, Teri?" Jess asked. "We're almost there and if a window's open then you can use the toilet in your apartment." 

"I need to go now. I've been holding it. It's coming out." 

"Come on, Rob," Jess called as they rushed back to Jess' apartment. 

Teri used the bathroom, then Jess insisted that Rob go too. Which led to an argument. Eventually Jess stared him down and Rob gave in. 

Once they were back on the fire escape, Jess made sure that it was the right apartment before testing each window. 

"It's right there," Rob pointed through the last window. 

"Let's hope it opens," Jess said and pulled. 

The window didn't budge. 

"Break the window," Rob encouraged. 

"I am not going to break your window. That would be very dangerous. Someone else could come in, and we might get cut on the glass. We're going to have to come up with a different plan." 

Rob pouted and they headed back to the apartment. 

"Alright," Jess said. "Get your coats, we're going to the library. And if they don't have the book, then we're going to the bookstore. I'm going to read the book, and I'm going to help you. We have a little more than an hour to do this, okay?" 

Rob nodded. It was his fault for forgetting about his book report when he packed his bag. But they'd been in such a hurry because the babysitter cancelled. 

The drove to the library and quickly inquired about the book. They didn't have it (but Jess was expecting that by now). So as not to waste the trip, they borrowed a couple of books for Teri. 

A moment later, they were back at Ally's. Jess was beginning to despise his place of work and began thinking about doing something else with his life. 

"I found it Mariano!" Rob called from the children's fiction section. Finally things were beginning to look up. 

"Thank goodness," Jess sighed. He was about to lead the kids upstairs. He could use a coffee right about now. Or a cigarette, but he wasn't going to get back into old habits especially around a pair of kids whose mother was a nurse. Then he spotted something. "Can you bring that book here, Rob?" Jess requested. 

Rob wandered over and handed the book to Jess. Jess grabbed Teri's hand and they then headed toward the back of the bookstore where a few computers were hooked up. 

Jess handed the book back. "You know how books have barcodes and they say how much you have to pay for it?" 

"Yes," Rob said, looking at Jess curiously. 

"Swipe the barcode there and see what comes up on the screen." 

Rob did as he was told. "That's not a price." 

"Read what it says," Jess told him. 

"_Mr. Barnaby's Biscuits_ by Harold Author. Review by D. Black. _Mr. Barnaby's Biscuits_ is a fantastic tale about Tommy a young boy and his cat, Mr. Barnaby." He stopped. "Someone's written a book report and put it on the computer." 

"That's right," Jess said. "But we call them book reviews. You can read a couple and then you'll have a few more ideas about what to write in your book report." 

"Cool," Rob said. He got out his pens and paper and began to copy down some words. Jess looked over his shoulder and made sure that he wasn't plagiarising anything. 

A man approached them. "Can I help you with anything, sir?" The man asked. 

Jess turned to him. "We're fine, Jake." 

"Mr. Mariano," he seemed surprised. "What are you doing here?" 

"It's a long story. I'm babysitting. And I'm helping Rob with his report." 

"I never would have guessed it of you, Mr. Mariano," Jake replied. 

Jess merely grunted in response. "Shouldn't you be helping customers?" 

"This place is pretty much dead at the moment." 

Jess was back to not wanting to deal with people. The kids he was okay with. They didn't aggravate him in the same way that adults did. 

"Mariano," Rob addressed Jess. "What does 'exquisite' mean?" 

"Well," Jess said, turning away from Jake. "Let's look at it in its context. Read the sentence it's in." 

"I highly recommend this exquisite novel for children aged six to nine." 

"Well it means that the book is really good. The reviewer probably also meant that it was a nice book. Written nicely, I mean. With nice words." 

"Oh," Rob said. 

"So what do you have so far?" Jess asked. 

Rob read the few disjointed sentences he had. 

"Do you think you have enough ideas to write enough?" Jess asked. 

"I think so," Rob smiled. "You were right, this is easier this time." 

"Okay, let's go up to the café and you can have milkshakes while you finish that up." 

Rob grinned and ran up the stairs. 

"Come on, Teri," Jess said, taking her upstairs. 

"Jess?" a familiar voice called. 

Jess turned. "Hey Rory. Have you come to return the book you stole?" 

"Of course," Rory grinned. She noticed the little girl with him. "Hey," she said to her. "Is she yours?" Rory asked Jess. 

"No!" Jess looked shocked. 

"Well, she's almost got the same hair as you." 

"She belongs to a woman who lives in my building. And her brother is upstairs waiting for us and his milkshake." 

"Can I join you?" Rory asked. 

Jess shrugged. "Whatever." 

The three of them headed upstairs where Rob was waiting at a table with a menu in his hands. 

"Mariano, I'm hungry," he stated. 

Jess checked his watch. It was just after six. "You can have a milkshake while you finish your report. I'll call your mum and see if it's okay if you have dinner here after that." 

Jess went into the kitchen to call Carolyn again. She was a little frazzled and worried because when she'd called back after the first time there was no one home. Jess apologised and asked about dinner. She said it would be fine and she would meet them at the café. 

When he got back to the table, Rory had Teri on her lap and appeared to be in the middle of reading to Teri when Rob interrupted with a question about his book report. 

"What book is it?" Rory asked. 

"_Mr. Barnaby's Biscuits_," Rob replied. 

"Oh, I love that book," Rory gushed. 

"I like it too," Rob agreed. "Mariano says he hasn't read it, though." 

"Really?" Rory asked. 

"Well, it's not like I read children's books that often anymore," Jess put in. "But since you're a child, Ror, it's only to be expected." 

"Oh hush," Rory said, ignoring Jess and turning back to Rob. "Don't you love the bit where Mr. Barnaby gets stuck in the fence?" 

Rob's eyes grew wide. "I forgot about that bit." He stared at his paper. "I don't know where to put it." 

"Let me have a look," Rory said, taking the paper and reading it through. "Hey, this is pretty good, Robert. But I think you could put in the bit about the fence right here." She pointed to the page. 

Jess sat and Teri crawled onto his lap. 

"Read to me, please?" she asked. "You said you would in the 'partment." 

"Okay. But do you want to order your milkshake first?" 

"It's okay," Rory said. "Someone came by when you were on the phone." 

Jess nodded and began to read the book they'd borrowed from the library. 

A moment later the milkshakes arrived and Rob finished his book report. 

"Are you still hungry, Rob?" Jess asked. "Because your mum said you could have dinner here and she'd meet you guys." 

"Cool!" Rob grinned. "Can I have anything I want?" 

"Within reason," Jess said. "I'm not buying you five hamburgers." 

"I want chicken," Teri stated. 

"That's the only thing she eats," Rob said. 

"Well if that's what she wants, that's what she'll have," said Rory, indulgently. 

"I don't know what half this stuff is," Rob complained from behind his menu. 

"Well, what do you want to eat?" Jess asked. 

"Mac and cheese," Rob stated. 

"What about penne al quattro formaggi?" Jess suggested. 

Rob wrinkled his nose. "That sounds yucky." 

"It's just a fancy way of saying short pasta tubes with four kinds of cheese," Rory explained. 

"Yum," Rob smiled. 

A waitress came over to take their order. Jess ordered for Teri and Rob, but didn't order anything for himself other than a coffee. 

"Aren't you going to eat, Jess?" Rory asked after she ordered the largest sandwich on the menu. 

"I ate here for breakfast. I ate lunch here. I am not going to have all three of my meals in this café," he explained. 

"I guess you would get kind of tired of it," Rory said. 

"As if you'd understand," Jess said. "You used to do the same thing at Luke's." 

"You did the same thing, too," she retorted. 

"That wasn't by choice," he grumbled. 

Dinner passed by calmly. Jess and Rory found out a little more about the kids. Rob and Teri were from Ohio. They used to live with both their parents, then their father died and they moved to New York. They'd been there for about two weeks and their regular babysitter was named Mandy. Rob wasn't a keen reader and liked playing and watching baseball. 

At five to seven, Carolyn arrived and had herself a sandwich, getting to know Jess and Rory. She didn't take the kids home until almost eight. 

Jess and Rory parted amicably before Jess grabbed a pizza on his way home. As he sank down into his couch with the warm pizza box on his lap he sighed with relief. The worst day he'd had in a while was finally over.

* * *

A/N: So that's chapter two. Comments are appreciated as always. 


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